Breaking Point
by CassandraHolly
Summary: Danny's reached his breaking point, and now Tom, Dougie, Harry, Matt, Charlie and James are going to have to deal with the consequences of their actions.
1. Chapter 1

He acted like it didn't hurt him, like he didn't care, but the truth was every time they opened their mouths he felt like a knife was twisting around in his gut.

Every time they took the piss out of his hair, his spots, his accent, his sense of humour, even the songs he wrote, he felt more and more like he was going to crack, lose his temper on them all.

And one day he did.

No one was more surprised than Danny was when he stood up and punched Harry in the face; when he screamed at him to 'go fuck your stupid posh mum, you tosser'. No one was more shocked than him when he turned as Tom put a hand on his shoulder, and Danny kicked him right in the gut. He turned on James, the closest, and started venting out his feelings of insecurity, pain and betrayal via his fists on to James' skin. Span around and clawed Charlie's face as the taller man tried to drag him off, and then threw him down and picked up Matt by the shirt, his adrenaline allowing him to shove Matt in to Charlie, and they all went down.

All of them- Charlie, Tom, Matt, James and Harry- watched in shock from the floor as Danny stood there, breathing hard, tears running down his face, gasping for air at his breakdown.

"I'm not..." He whispered brokenly. "I'm not... not pathetic..." He stumbled back and shook his head wildly. "Not, I'm not... I aint ugly, you don't- you don't know."

And it could've ended there, if it wasn't for Dougie. Small, defenceless Dougie, who couldn't even fight off a tickle attack from Tom, who's strength equalled a ten year old girl's, who panicked and in fear, lashed out, throwing his small frame at Danny. Of course, Danny acted before he thought; grabbing Dougie with one hand, he struck out with the other, backhanding him across the face and sending him crashing in to the table.

For a second, time stood still. Danny didn't move, just stared, wide eyed and crying, at Dougie, who was sitting on the floor, watching Danny with huge eyes- which slowly teared up.

"Ow," He mumbled, and clutched his cheek, whimpering softly. Danny stepped back, and looked at Tom accusingly.

"It's your fault!" He said loudly. "Your, your fault, you lied to me, said you liked me, said you were my mate, it's your fault, you lied! You LIED! I HATE YOU!"

And then he was gone, running out of the front door, down the drive way, across the road and in to the forest; but they weren't angry. None of them were, because they had all known that even though he was strong, even though he acted like it didn't hurt him, everyone had a breaking point and they had accidentally pushed Danny to his.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N: I've noticed that I keep using Danny leaving in my stories. This one isn't very long, only a few chapters at the most, but dont worry, i'll try not to insert anymore Run Away!Danny and Innocent!Dougie. (I say I try, Dougie always manages to turn in to something of an eight year old in my stories... :L) Anyways, thanks to my reviewers, love you all, hope ou enjoy and I'd appreciate feedback :D xx

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"What did we do?" Tom said quietly, staring, wide eyed, at the wall.

James, Charlie, Matt, Harry and Tom were sitting around the table in complete silence. Dougie was upstairs sleeping; Harry had had to tell him that Danny was going to be back in the morning- which, of course, was a lie.

It had been four hours since Danny had left. It was nine at night, pitch black outside, and one of their concerns was the fact that Danny's family lived in Bolton, he didn't have any other friends nearby and he had left his phone and wallet in the house. Matt had tried to persuade the others to look for him, but then arose the obstacle that at least one of them would have to stay behind to look after Dougie and see if Danny came back. Tom said Harry should do it, seeing as how Dougie trusted him most so if he woke up, Harry would be there for him. Harry said Tom, because Danny trusted Tom the most and if he came back everyone was pretty sure that he'd only talk to Tom. Charlie agreed with Harry, James agreed with Tom and Matt just pointed out that even if they did go looking for him, this was Danny they were talking about- Danny, who had been known to climb fifty foot trees, set up camp underneath a bridge and win a game of hide and seek by hanging outside of the window for forty minutes. They wouldn't be able to find him.

So they had been sat there for four hours, waiting.

Then Charlie made an unwelcome remark.

"Wait, you said that Danny would be most likely to trust Tom, yeah?"

Harry and Tom nodded slowly.

"Well, didn't you hear what he was saying?" He paused, and when Tom didn't reply, he continued. "He said he hated you, said he trusted you and you threw it back at him. He- he hates us all."

"Should we be mad at him?" James said suddenly. "He basically beat the shit out of us, but I'm not mad- is that just me?"

"No. It's not just you." Harry muttered. "I'm not, either."

Tom suddenly looked up at the ceiling, frowning. The others followed his gaze. After a second, the heard a small whining noise.

"What is that?" Matt said quietly. Tom suddenly stood up.

"It's Dougie." He said quickly, then ran out of the room and up the stairs, Harry on his heels. They threw open the door.

Dougie, curled up by his en suite bathroom door, freaked out as the door smashed open. He gave a little cry of fear and launched himself in to the bathroom, slamming it behind him. Harry walked over and knelt down, slowly pushing it open with ease against Dougie's futile attempts to hold it back. Tom decided to let Harry deal with the younger boy, and flicked his eyes over the room before widening them at what he saw- what appeared to be vomit all over Dougie's bed.

"Harry!" Tom whispered, walking to the bathroom door which was closed, now with Harry and Dougie in it. "Harry, Dougie threw up-"

"Oh my god," He heard Harry say quietly, "Dougie, what's all over you?"

Tom cracked open the door and peered through. Dougie was sitting against a wall, eyeing Harry warily. His face and clothes were covered in puke.

"Harry, he threw up, it's all on his bed." Harry reached out an arm to Dougie, who began to cry.

"I- I didn't- make it-" he gasped out. "I didn't mean to- I swear, I'm sorry-"

Harry pulled him over by his shoulders and began rubbing circles on his back. Tom strode over to the bed and pulled the bed sheets off, bundling them up and throwing them at the door, then getting a pair of cotton three quarter lengths and a long sleeved jumper and walking behind Harry with them.

"Haz, run a bath for him." Tom instructed, pulling Dougie gently out of Harry's hold. As Harry ran the bath, Tom stripped Dougie down to his boxers, then looked down at him.

"Dougs, mate." Dougie looked at him , rubbing his eyes with one hand and clutching Tom's ark with the other.

"It's not your fault." He led Dougie over to the bath turned away while Dougie took off his boxers and got in. There was a clumsy splash and Tom turned to see Dougie sitting in the water, gazing at the bubbles. Harry knelt down and wiped a flannel over his face; Dougie took it and did it himself. Tom left them too it and walked downstairs. Just as he passed the door to join Matt, Charlie and James in the living room, the bell rang. He backed up and opened it.

Standing in the doorway was a girl a bit younger than him- she looked about seventeen. She had blonde curls cut in a fringe above her green eyes, and she was quite small and slightly recognisable.

"Can I help you?" Tom asked politely.

The girl took a deep breath. "I should probably let you know... I've got Danny."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Woah, long time no update. Meh, apparently not many people like it anyway**

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Tom, Matt, Charlie and James strode behind the girl as she half ran down the road. After she'd told Tom she had Danny, it was only a matter of seconds before they were out the door and following her; Harry had been left with Dougie.

"Where was he?" James panted.

"It's probably best," She replied, "If we leave that until we get there."

She lead them in to the corner shop- Tom remembered then where he knew her from. She'd always be there, organising the shelves or serving them when they went in for groceries.

They followed her through a small door at the back, up some rickety stairs and through another door. She stopped to take her shoes off- even through the haze of worry and panic, Tom remembered his manners and slipped out of his converses, the others copying impatiently.

"You'd better wait here." She said quietly, and they all stared after her as she padded down the hall, disappearing into a room at the end. After a minute of painful silence, she poked her head around the door and beckoned them over; they walked down and crowded in to the room.

Danny was lying on his back on a small bed, seemingly asleep. Blankets were piled around his legs, and an electric fan faced him, ruffling his hair around his face.

"He's running a temperature, yet he keeps shivering. Looks like he's got a cold." The girl spoke from beside Tom. As she made her way over to the bed, Tom's eyes flicked over her walls for the first time. They were absolutely crammed with posters and magazine articles about McFly and Busted; there wasn't wall to be seen. Her ceiling was, too.

"You're a fan." Charlie blurted out. She turned to gaze at him, eyes piercing.

"Was." She corrected. "Until I found out what goes on behind the music, so to speak." She nodded pointedly at Danny.

"We didn't mean to-" James started.

"But you did, didn't you?" She interrupted. "Save your apologies for him, I've no use for them."

"Who exactly _are_ you?" Charlie's ego came into action; Tom rolled his eyes.

"I'm Rosemary Linkin." She stated, staring at him with angry eyes. "Who are you? Charlie Simpson, yeah? Singer and guitarist in Busted, multi- talented and, going on the state I found him in, multi- personalitied."

She began walking out, then turned to face Tom.

"The walls in this house are very thin. I don't know what's going on with you lot but if you think you can get away with _anything_ here, you're sadly mistaken."

With that, she walked out, gently closing the door behind her. They all turned to look at Danny, who was waking up slowly. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, then caught sight of the four men standing across from him and froze.

"Hey, Dan." Tom said weakly; Danny just looked at him. After a small silence, Matt spoke.

"Danny, I know how you feel." As Danny turned blue eyes on him, he cleared his throat and carried on. "When I was about thirteen, the same thing happened to me. I lashed out in the end, and ran away afterwards... thing is, I never went back. It was at school you see, and I was expelled for violence."

He moved towards Danny as he spoke who stared at him wordlessly. He crouched down next to the bed, resting his arms on the mattress.

"I know you feel threatened, mate. Like we're all out to get you. You feel betrayed, because of all the things we said... you feel confused, because you don't really get what's going on, and you feel guilty, because you're wondering if everything we said is true, and you're scared, because we could be angry at you for hurting us."

Danny averted his gaze, turning his head away from them and staring at the wall.

"We're not going to hurt you. Everything we said is bullshit; we were dicks, we were stressed, and we took it out on you. You didn't deserve that. We're not angry; it was totally justified. Dan, mate," He stood up and sat on the bed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I'm gonna speak for all of us when I say, I'm really sorry, truly I am. I'd do anything for you to forgive me."

Danny didn't move.

"You're still angry, yeah? Still mad. We get that. But can you please just... come home. So we know you're safe, and when you're ready to forgive us, you can."

After a minute, Danny nodded. Matt ruffled his hair and stood up.

"I'm gonna go talk to Rosemary." He exited, dragging Charlie and James with him; Tom was left. Without saying anything, he strode over and pulled Danny in to a bone crushing hug.

He knew that Danny was mad.

He knew he wasn't going to forgive them yet.

But someday, he would; and that was all that mattered for now.

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**Wouldn't hurt to review**


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